[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-431238-105":59,"doc-detail-431238-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","women-religious-in-their-foundations-and-since-vatican-ii-brief-biographies-of-twelve-founders","Women Religious in their Foundations and since Vatican II - Brief Biographies of Twelve Founders","","Feature article highlighting brief biographies of twelve women religious founders of apostolic communities, founded from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and their Ignatian/Jesuit affinities. It traces how Vatican II’s spirit and teachings shaped active ministry in the 21st century, despite aging and declining numbers. The piece explains opposition faced by founders, outlines shifts after the Council, and emphasizes community life, pastoral presence among the vulnerable, and advocacy rooted in gospel renewal.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":45,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/women-religious-in-their-foundations-and-since-vatican-ii-brief-biographies-of-twelve-founders/431238/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/women-religious-in-their-foundations-and-since-vatican-ii-brief-biographies-of-twelve-founders/431238.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"awa","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-06","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the purpose of featuring the twelve founders’ biographies?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The article presents brief biographies to show how the founders’ foundations help explain how active apostolic sisters understand and live Vatican II’s spirit today.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the article describe the sisters’ apostolic way of life after Vatican II?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It emphasizes meaningful community relationships, pastoral presence among the poor, flexible living situations, and not relying on cloistered or uniform lifestyles while serving where need is greatest.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What historical opposition did women founders face, according to the article?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The article says founders had to confront church resistance to new roles for women in spreading the faith and to apostolic approaches that differed from expectations like cloistering.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},431238,1790716060,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":44,"category_name":45,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":14,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":24},3985747858093,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Women Religious in their Foundations and since Vatican II –  \nThis month we are featuring on the “Jesuit A to Z” tab of our website brief biographies of twelve Founders of Women Religious Communities, recently written for us by members of those communities. They were founded as early as the 16th century and as late as the 19th. Most have some affinity with Ignatian/Jesuit spirituality. All of them  \nare well represented among American apostolic (rather than contemplative) religious congregations today. And current historical research reveals that they and their peers have long been key agents for good in the life of the church and the nation (e.g., education, health care, social service) .  \nIn this time that marks 50 years since Vatican Council II, what makes looking back to the origins of these communities so rewarding is the way their foundations can help us  \nunderstand active, apostolic sisters today. How well they appropriated the Council’s spirit and teachings. And, in spite of aging and of shrinking numbers, how creatively and compassionately they are serving the church and the world in their 21st-century ministries. One could say that the Spirit is palpably alive in them.  \nTheir adult gospel-inspired lives and ministry can be threatening to church leadership that does not know where they’ve come from. Not surprising that they (though human and imperfect like all of us) have been misunderstood and attacked--too often by people not their equal in spiritual or theological living and learning. One positive effect of these attacks, however, has been a new appreciation by the sisters themselves of who they are. Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Sandra Schneiders, scholar of the history of (women’s) religious life and perceptive observer of that life [in the U.S. today](in the U.S. today), has distilled from the life experience of contemporary sisters what she calls “a new prophetic life-form.” (To see some of its characteristics, go to  \nWomen Religious after Vatican II, Life and Work of Apostolic) .  \nThe appearance of this new life-form has caught many Catholics and others unprepared for understanding what has come to be. They are unaware that the seeds of post-Vatican II women’s religious life were already planted years ago in these communities’ foundations, modeled to some extent on the new form of male religious life that emerged in the 16th century--not monastic, but apostolic and ministerial in orientation. And just as the early Jesuits ran into opposition from church authority (Pope Paul IV forced them to sing the Divine Office in choir, a monastic practice contrary to the spirit of their founding, which had been church approved), so women founders had to face opposition to their new ways. The church, for instance, would not recognize Mary Ward (1585-1645) as founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM) for centuries, after declaring her a “heretic” and persecuting her and her sisters for trying to expand the role of women in  \nspreading the faith. And Vincent De Paul (1581-1660) and Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) decided that their Daughters of Charity, unlike religious women who were expected to be cloistered, would maintain the mobility and availability their ministry demanded and live among the poor.  \nKnowing this history, we may be less surprised if post-Vatican II American sisters do not live (“monastically”) in big houses where they’re cared for, but rather singly or in small numbers in rented apartments or modest-sized homes like people of ordinary means.  \nYet they do live “in community” because they interact with one another in frequent and meaningful ways whether they live under the same roof or not. Also, wanting in another way tobe close to the people they serve, most of them do not wear uniform clothes (the “habit”) and yet they are recognized--recognized for the way they accompany people (especially the vulnerable), for the way their “consecrated celibacy” frees them to go where the need","cbCaik10EEOlGHw5","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaik10EEOlGHw5","pdf",190744,"English","# Women Religious Foundations and Vatican II\n## Community, service, and adapting to the Council\n## Opposition in origins and prophetic life-form","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of featuring the twelve founders’ biographies?\",\"answer\":\"The article presents brief biographies to show how the founders’ foundations help explain how active apostolic sisters understand and live Vatican II’s spirit today.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article describe the sisters’ apostolic way of life after Vatican II?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes meaningful community relationships, pastoral presence among the poor, flexible living situations, and not relying on cloistered or uniform lifestyles while serving where need is greatest.\"},{\"question\":\"What historical opposition did women founders face, according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"The article says founders had to confront church resistance to new roles for women in spreading the faith and to apostolic approaches that differed from expectations like cloistering.\"}]","Women Religious in their Foundations and since Vatican II - Brief Biographies of Twelve Founders | PDF",1790654895]